by Jade Small
I think Robert Ripley would have enjoyed this one. So how did this carcass end up in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest? Quite a few ideas floating around…
Humpback whales migrate thousands of kilometres yearly, across most our oceans which includes the opening to the Amazon basin although in this case at the wrong time of year. From August to November they’re usually in the Bahia area from where they migrate to Antartica.
It is likely that the calf was separated from its mother during the migration and died from stress, eating plastic waste, bad weather or a combination perhaps. At this stage the consensus is that the whale was dead before it landed in the mangrove.
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Attention was drawn to the area by circling vultures and a team of scientists set off to the area to investigate. They found the 36ft long carcass 50ft offshore, in a mangrove area on the island of Marajo at the mouth of the Amazon River. They hope to be able to solve the riddle soon.
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Renata Emin, president and marine specialist at Bicho D’Agua said: “We’re still not sure how it landed here, but we’re guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove.
“Along with this astonishing feat, we are baffled as to what a humpback whale is doing on the north coast of Brazil during February because this is a very unusual occurrence.”
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